I've been away from PR and internet poker for almost a month barring a small 3 day stint when i was in London. But I've hardly had a break seeings as I was in Vegas for 3 weeks!
Vegas was great, but I made no money - i was about $100 up! On top of not really making any money I also spent a fortune.
As a result my roll is a little dented, and while I'm nowhere near busto, it would be nice to get a few wins under my belt soon!
I played 2 tournies this morning to warm me up ($5 and $10 >:s ) then played the three rebuys this afternoon.
No joy in the first.
Was 4th at the first break in the second only to donk off my chips and bubble in 61st (60 paid).
Third one:
Sometimes when I play these rebuys i feel as if ppl just give me their chips, other times you have to work for them. Well today was a day when ppl gave me them, which was incredibly nice of them - maybe they knew i would be a little rusty.
30 left i was cruising, took a few beats and bad situations and was suddenly struggling. I got AK in the sb, mid pos raised 2.5x i shoved and he insta called with 88 - he's supposed to fold there. It's not a bad beat, but it feels like one.
I then got lucky to win 3 flips, but again I was up against 99 twice and 66 once, and each time they possibly "should" have folded.
At the FT i was chipping away then lost a pot when the bb smooth called my raise when i had AK and led at the raggy flop.
5 mins later I'm all in with AK and a shorty calls with AQ only to spike the queen on the river.
5 mins after that UTG raises i shove AK aware that i have no fold equity... button calls and so does UTG, flop comes K hi, I'm typing to my buddy on msn "HOLD!". The button bets, utg folds and he flips KK....
GG Pug
$416 for your troubles...
Friday, June 15, 2007
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Cash play v MTT play.
I got a lot of useful feedback on my last entry - it was very much appreciated.
There are three of us out here and all of us are primarily MTT players. I say primarily, but really we are pretty much solely MTT players. All of us have had good success in these online tournies - between the two guys I'm here with they share 1 Big Deal, 3 Grand Prixs and numerous Daily and rebuy wins on Pokerroom. However, all of us have struggled a little to adapt to the live cash games.
I wouldn't neccessarily say it is our live skills that are letting us down - We've all won multiple live MTTs in casinos at home.
The primary reason why we haven't been winning big in these games is our inability to play later streets, ie the turn and river.
In a standard MTT online there is little play on the turn and river. Obviously in the early stages of a tourny there is some as you often start with approximately 100 bbs. But it still differs to play in a cash game with 100 bbs. A reason for this is that generally ppl don't tend to speculate as much in tournaments, because they can't reload if they don't hit. It is normally a mistake to continuously call off 4 or 5 bbs with hands like J9s and AT, because for the most part you won't hit, or won't hit big enough. When the blinds go up you are struggling because of all that speculating, or when you get a big hand you only double to 2k instead of 3k etc etc.
As the tournament continues, blinds escalate and the number of bbs you have continues to lessen (assuming you have the average number of chips). As this happens, turn and river play (even flop play to an extent) become much more non existant. It is all about preflop play, raising in position, re-raising in position/out if position shoves - and a large amount of the time open shoving. These are the skills that the three of us are proficient in. These skills are useless in cash games.
Over the past 2 weeks, my cash game has improved dramatically, but it still has a long way to go before i would class myself as a well rounded NL HE player. I class myself as a (very) good MTT player, a good STT player and now.... probably an adequate cash game player. 2 weeks ago i was a poor cash game player. Over the next 5 days, I'm going to concentrate on my game even more to try and improve my status from adequate to "decent", then when i return i might try my hand at some online cash games, and read some forums etc. Another point that i haven't noted is that my MTT play can only benefit from these cash game lessons!
Ok, one hand from today. I wasn't involved in it but i found it interesting:
1/3 NL.
3 limpers to sb who makes it 6 - funny raise obv. This guy has about 250 back. BB calls, leaving 400 back and others call.
Flop:
89T
sb checks and bb leads for 20, mid position loose guy calls with $600 back, folded to sb who calls.
Turn J
(no flush draws)
sb leads for 35
bb calls 35
mid calls 35
Ok....
Now this is interesting. What the hell do they have? There's four to a straight on the board, we have an old guy (warning: sterotype time) who looks like he only plays the nuts. A younger guy who has been playing pretty solidly, throwing some suited connectors into the mix, and a guy in his mid thirties who thinks he is a poker god, is wearing a WSOP t-shirt and has been playing baaaaaadly.
SB has to have at least a queen. Has to. BB - well i think he knows sb has to have a queen, so surely he needs to have at least a queen. Mid position - well as i said this guy is bad, but come on, how the hell can you call this without at least a queen?
River: A
Changes nothing.
SB moves all in for $165
Ok - bb makes it inifinitely clear he doesn't have KQ. I know sometimes weak is strong etc, but this guy DEFINITELY didn't have KQ, he eventually calls. Mid position says "Time please dealer" and sits for 30 seconds before announcing "All in".
BB has abut $200 back.
He doesn't call instantly, but we know he doesn't have KQ. He shakes his head saying how sick it is, but he might have to call. "God, i'm calling off all my stack hoping to half the pot, but i think i have to."
Does he have to?
As badly as i thought he played his hand, i did genuinely feel for him here. The re-raiser did not have to have KQ to move all in here. If he had the single queen i think that this is a great bet. He knows the bb only has the queen, and knows that if he flat calls he is at best splitting it 2 ways (realistically at best 3 way, or maybe losing to the old guy's KQ), but if he moves in, he has a chance of pushing out the bb's Qx and splitting the pot 2 ways with the old guy, and if the old guy has KQ so be it, same result as flat calling.
Ok, so knowing that mid pos doesn't have to have KQ to make this bet can the sb call of his remaining $200 with a single Queen?
There's about $750 in the main pot. If he thinks it's a 3 way split, he is calling $200 to win $250.... If he thinks its a two way split he's calling $200 to win $375.
I think the chances of it being a 2 way split were 0%.
Chances of it being a 3 way split is obviously more difficult to put a number on.
And there is no chance he is scooping the pot.
I think he should fold the river to the old guys all in, but once he calls..... it is a tricky spot.
As it happens the old guy had KQ and so did the shover, the young guy mucked, but to the joy of the table he pulled out another four $100 bills from his wallet "Player checks on 18" was shouted across the floor and four stacks of red chips arrived promptly..... their destination unknown.
Not sure if we will play any more poker tonight, we've played our 8 hours to get the reduced room rate. Probably will head to a restaurant and have a few beers.
Puggy.
There are three of us out here and all of us are primarily MTT players. I say primarily, but really we are pretty much solely MTT players. All of us have had good success in these online tournies - between the two guys I'm here with they share 1 Big Deal, 3 Grand Prixs and numerous Daily and rebuy wins on Pokerroom. However, all of us have struggled a little to adapt to the live cash games.
I wouldn't neccessarily say it is our live skills that are letting us down - We've all won multiple live MTTs in casinos at home.
The primary reason why we haven't been winning big in these games is our inability to play later streets, ie the turn and river.
In a standard MTT online there is little play on the turn and river. Obviously in the early stages of a tourny there is some as you often start with approximately 100 bbs. But it still differs to play in a cash game with 100 bbs. A reason for this is that generally ppl don't tend to speculate as much in tournaments, because they can't reload if they don't hit. It is normally a mistake to continuously call off 4 or 5 bbs with hands like J9s and AT, because for the most part you won't hit, or won't hit big enough. When the blinds go up you are struggling because of all that speculating, or when you get a big hand you only double to 2k instead of 3k etc etc.
As the tournament continues, blinds escalate and the number of bbs you have continues to lessen (assuming you have the average number of chips). As this happens, turn and river play (even flop play to an extent) become much more non existant. It is all about preflop play, raising in position, re-raising in position/out if position shoves - and a large amount of the time open shoving. These are the skills that the three of us are proficient in. These skills are useless in cash games.
Over the past 2 weeks, my cash game has improved dramatically, but it still has a long way to go before i would class myself as a well rounded NL HE player. I class myself as a (very) good MTT player, a good STT player and now.... probably an adequate cash game player. 2 weeks ago i was a poor cash game player. Over the next 5 days, I'm going to concentrate on my game even more to try and improve my status from adequate to "decent", then when i return i might try my hand at some online cash games, and read some forums etc. Another point that i haven't noted is that my MTT play can only benefit from these cash game lessons!
Ok, one hand from today. I wasn't involved in it but i found it interesting:
1/3 NL.
3 limpers to sb who makes it 6 - funny raise obv. This guy has about 250 back. BB calls, leaving 400 back and others call.
Flop:
89T
sb checks and bb leads for 20, mid position loose guy calls with $600 back, folded to sb who calls.
Turn J
(no flush draws)
sb leads for 35
bb calls 35
mid calls 35
Ok....
Now this is interesting. What the hell do they have? There's four to a straight on the board, we have an old guy (warning: sterotype time) who looks like he only plays the nuts. A younger guy who has been playing pretty solidly, throwing some suited connectors into the mix, and a guy in his mid thirties who thinks he is a poker god, is wearing a WSOP t-shirt and has been playing baaaaaadly.
SB has to have at least a queen. Has to. BB - well i think he knows sb has to have a queen, so surely he needs to have at least a queen. Mid position - well as i said this guy is bad, but come on, how the hell can you call this without at least a queen?
River: A
Changes nothing.
SB moves all in for $165
Ok - bb makes it inifinitely clear he doesn't have KQ. I know sometimes weak is strong etc, but this guy DEFINITELY didn't have KQ, he eventually calls. Mid position says "Time please dealer" and sits for 30 seconds before announcing "All in".
BB has abut $200 back.
He doesn't call instantly, but we know he doesn't have KQ. He shakes his head saying how sick it is, but he might have to call. "God, i'm calling off all my stack hoping to half the pot, but i think i have to."
Does he have to?
As badly as i thought he played his hand, i did genuinely feel for him here. The re-raiser did not have to have KQ to move all in here. If he had the single queen i think that this is a great bet. He knows the bb only has the queen, and knows that if he flat calls he is at best splitting it 2 ways (realistically at best 3 way, or maybe losing to the old guy's KQ), but if he moves in, he has a chance of pushing out the bb's Qx and splitting the pot 2 ways with the old guy, and if the old guy has KQ so be it, same result as flat calling.
Ok, so knowing that mid pos doesn't have to have KQ to make this bet can the sb call of his remaining $200 with a single Queen?
There's about $750 in the main pot. If he thinks it's a 3 way split, he is calling $200 to win $250.... If he thinks its a two way split he's calling $200 to win $375.
I think the chances of it being a 2 way split were 0%.
Chances of it being a 3 way split is obviously more difficult to put a number on.
And there is no chance he is scooping the pot.
I think he should fold the river to the old guys all in, but once he calls..... it is a tricky spot.
As it happens the old guy had KQ and so did the shover, the young guy mucked, but to the joy of the table he pulled out another four $100 bills from his wallet "Player checks on 18" was shouted across the floor and four stacks of red chips arrived promptly..... their destination unknown.
Not sure if we will play any more poker tonight, we've played our 8 hours to get the reduced room rate. Probably will head to a restaurant and have a few beers.
Puggy.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Caesar's Palace
Just a quick update. I started writing an entry on another computer and then it crashed, so i will fast forward to yesterday. I might go back and talk about some other hands another time.
We checked into Ceasar's yesterday, and in order to qualify for the Poker Room rate we need to play 8 hours a day between 2 of us - easy!
At Caesar's the smallest game is 1/3 100 min, 500 max.
I like to buy in for $300.
Yesterday I got AQ 3 times in the evening session, 1 time i played it well, the other 2 times, i made mistakes - one that cost me money and another that turned out to save me money.
1)
C/o -1 raised to $6
This guy had been raising small a lot in position with marginal holdings like KJ - he then overvalued his hands on the flop and would call down when he should be folding. He also liked any 2 suited.
So my AQ is ahead of his range, i have position on him. I can call this, but I'd rather raise to get it heads up, so i raised to $20 in the c/o. Folded to him and he called.
Flop:
A 2 2 rainbow.
This is a pretty good flop for me, I know I'm a mile in front and the only action I'm getting here is from a weak ace. If he doesn't have an ace he folds to my c-bet, so i thought i'd throw in a bit of deception and check, and let him catch a bit.
Turn:
7
He checks and i bet 20, he min raises me to 40. Did i just let him catch 2 pair? I don't think so. I'm pretty sure I'm still ahead here, but i think my best bet is to call, as i have position and can see what he does on the river, and maybe get an extra bet, because i still haven't really told him I have an ace. If he has the 7, then as long as he doesn't have an ace with it he can't outdraw me unless he hits another 7 due to the two 2s being on the board.
I call, river is a brick.
He checks - here is my mistake. I've done this a few times. I'm not careful enough in calculating the size of my value bet; it was a value bet btw - i was sure i was ahead and that he would call with a worse holding.
Pot was now $120 - I bet $25 (horrible horrible bet). He called and mucked his hand. I think I should have bet $50 here.
Ok, next one i raise it up and get called by this player new to the table with $500 - he has the button.
Flop A K 3 with 2 hearts,
I fire 2/3 pot, he calls.
Turn Q - good card for me, although if he was in front of me on the flop he still is (unless he has A3 or K3 - but unlikely and even if he did he surely raises on the flop), but i didn't think he was. I know JT now beats me, but I didn't think he had that at this stage.
I decided to check, to let him try to outplay me. I thought he was the kind of guy who would play his position, but then he checked behind and
4h fell.
I checked and he fired $50, i folded pretty quickly.
After that hand he continued to call down bets on draws, so I'm pretty sure by playing the hand badly i minimised my losses - but you have to look at the long term and not the short term results.
Ok third time - i liked my play here, a little different from standard though.
C/o limped and i bumped it up to 15 with AQ on the button, the bb called and the c/o called.
Flop Qc 7c 7d
BB led for 18, c/o folded. At this point i could raise, i think i have the best hand here, but by calling i am throwing some decption into the mix, my hand is a lot stronger than a button raise would suggest.
I call
Turn 4d
He bets $28. I think and decide now that he has JQ/KQ - I could raise here, but decided that I'd get more value if i called and bet the river.
I call
River is a brick.
He checks to me looking at me - massive massive tell. "Please don't bet, i have a hand that could win at showdown."
I bet $40 and he calls, and shakes his head as i flip AQ and he mucks his hand.
Maybe i could have got more had i raised the turn, but i love representing the missed draw on the river.
Ok, today.... rollercoaster time!
I sat down at a table with loads of cash and the first 3 hands were re-raised preflop. Excellent, i like big pots, i can play my strong hands, and play position and look to get paid off.
After sitting there for a couple of hours I had got up to $400 from my initial $300 buy in.
Then this hand developed:
I'm in the sb, button limps for $3, i wake up with QQ. At this point i had raised 3 of the last 4 hands and hadn't shown down. So i figured if i bumped this up i would get no credit.
I made it $20.
The bb who had $700 back thought for 10 seconds and re-raised it to 50.
Ok.....
What am i representing with my raise?
I think they thought i could have had a wide wide range. Maybe even close to any 2 cards, as i had raised so much prior to that. Let's say he puts me on any pair, 89s+
That's a hell of a lot of hands, so let's now put him on a hand.
I think he re-raises me here with 88+ AJ+, maybe even worse? I'm the small blind and the button limped, i don't have to be strong here.
Ok, so my QQ is ahead of his range, and i don't want to be playing this pot out of position. I decided to re-raise and slid in another $100 meaning it was $70 more to him.
At this point he slumps back in his chair and looks like he had a real decision.
I'm sitting thinking "if he moves in here, can i call? I mean i have QQ, I'm in the sb v the bb, what have i represented so far. How has he been playing? What would he move in with here? Do i have an physical tells on him?"
He thinks for 15 seconds or so and announces all in.
Oh oh pinochio (copyright thehills1)
Right, now we've gone over what hands we're representing etc, but there's more to this than that. I have information on this guy from the past 2 hours.
Nugget 1:
20 mins after i sat down, tight UTG made it $15, there were 2 callers and this guy made it $45 on the button with TT.
Now this is by no means bad play, it could be a good play, he won the hand and showed his tens. But TT is probably a little behind a standard UTG raise, or it's not far enough in front. Sure he was raising to isolate after the limpers and to squeeze some of them out. Well i say sure, but i don't know. From this hand i got he is either a good player or he overvlaues hands.
Nugget 2:
Young guy sat down at the table and played very few hands, but played them aggressively. Everytime he showed down he had the goods and chipped up to $400.
Our villain made it $15 from early and got 2 callers including this young solid player in position.
Flop
Q T 5 rainbow.
Villain led for $25 and solid player raised to $75.
Villain then re-raised to $150 and solid player called.
Turn K.
Villain led for $100 and solid player raised all in for about $250, $150 more.
Villain INSTA called and flipped AQ triumphantly.
Solid player makes a sigh of relief and flips 55 for the flopped set - obviously.
Villain looks sick.
Ok... does this guy overvalue hands? HELL YES!
There was another hand where he overcalled on the river, and mucked when the orginal caller had 2nd pair. I don't know what he had, but it was a dreadful call as he didn't beat the original caller. When you overcall you have to be able to beat both the bettor and the caller, sure the bettor may be bluffing but the caller sure as hell isn't. So this threw further weight into him being a bad player.
Ok... decision time.
I had all of these nuggets of info in my head, coupled with the way the hand was played and the fact i had already throwin in $120, i was swaying towards calling. I genuinely didn't think he had AA. When he raised all in, i detected a little amount of genuine hesitation, so realistically the only hand i thought he could have that beat me was KK. I thought AK and JJ (and the other QQ) all fit his betting pattern.
Putting him on that range and having $120 in already i think i have to call.
I called for my final $280 after 15 seconds of thought.
He flips KK as the flop is dealt - whoops....
Flop JT3
Turn 5
Are you ready????
River Queeeeeeeeeeeeennnnnn!
I didn't really react other than to turn to him and shrug my shoulders and offer a facial expression that was supposed to read "Sorry bud, that's poker".
He turns to me and says "That was a terrible call".
I reply "Well on the face of it, it was a bad call but it worked out ok for me, but it was certainly not a terrible call."
The guy (who was in his mid thirties) responded, "it was a terrible terrible call, 300 bucks more on QQ"
Once again i replied "It wasn't a terrible call, i had my reasons."
"Don't try to justify it, terrible player." - Him
"Would you like me to write you a 500 word essay on why i made that call (could have handed him the link to this blog i guess!). I made the call for a reason." - Me
"Whatever, you play real bad" - Him
I should have stopped at this point, i had just bad beaten him for $400, but the guy was being a bit of a dick about it, i mean come on, if he thinks I'm a bad player and he's so much better, then he will crush those games, and if he's so pissed about losing one buy in, he shouldn't be playing. I didn't stop....
"You want to know why i made the call? Why i made the bad call? I have sat here for 2 hours with you and you have been making bad plays all day, you overvalue hands thats why i made the call. I got it wrong, i beat you, unlucky, but let's move on."
He didn't say a word. I realise that i may come across as a bit of a dick myself here, and with good reason; but i just wasn't taking it from this guy, and i only gave back what he gave me.
Anyway i now had $800 in front of me to donk off.
Ok...
I get 78c in utg+1
UTG tries to straddle but is too late. He has like $800 in front of him too. So he limps. This is a very weak holding in the position, but there hadn't been many preflop raises, so i decided to try and see a flop. Even if someone raises from late to say $15, the pot will be guaranteed to be juicy and multi way and I have a chance to catch a monster.
We see a flop:
Qd 5c 4c
Ok... not quite bingo, but i have a massive draw and plenty of chips to use to my advantage.
UTG leads for 20 - he has been playing very LAG and could have a wide variety of holdings here. There are 3 people left to act behind me, i have a big draw (gut shot straight flush draw) so i elect to raise.
This is the type of hand in a tournament that I quite simply wouldn't lay down. I would only lay it down if someone shoved on me, but i would choose my bets sizes carefully so i would be the one moving in with fold equity. However this is a cash game.....
I made it $50, and everyone folded to the UTG LAG. He was on the phone and flat called.
At this point i think it should be noted that he has called a lot of raises on the flop with very weak holdings looking to catch bigger on the turn. Ie he called with A4 on a 4 K J board earlier, checked the turn and caught trip 4s on the river.
Turn 7d
I now have a pair, but i can't be good. He checks to me.
One of the reasons for raising your draw in position is so that you can get a free river card. However, for the reasons noted above i decided that i was best to keep representing strength and fire in another bet to get him to fold.
I bet $100 and he thought for a second and called (still on the phone).
River was the Ks, so despite my draw on the flop, i now only have a pair of 7s.
He checks to me, there's just over $300 in the middle that i cannot win if i check. I HAVE to bet this to win the pot.
I slide in 2 $100 towers, and he sits back in his chair. After about 10 seconds he calls, i flip my pair of 7s and he turns over 45 for the flopped 2 pair, immediately hanging up on his friend and cheering.
I don't think i played the hand badly - I definitely could have played it differently, but i did everything in it for a reason. I bet the turn instead of taking a free card because i thought he might have a weak queen or a middle PP, and i put in a strong bet on the river, that i think was probably optimally sized, to try to steal it. Incidentally, i had 19 outs on the river after i turned the 7, i didn't know that at the time but i did.
9 clubs, 4 gut shot outs - 1 club, two 7s, three 8s and two Qs.
Ok, enough for now. Going to get some food, then will hit the tables again, followed by a club later.
Please, I'd like some feedback on specific hands, because i definitely have leaks in my play - and I'd like to hear some opinions.
Puggy.
We checked into Ceasar's yesterday, and in order to qualify for the Poker Room rate we need to play 8 hours a day between 2 of us - easy!
At Caesar's the smallest game is 1/3 100 min, 500 max.
I like to buy in for $300.
Yesterday I got AQ 3 times in the evening session, 1 time i played it well, the other 2 times, i made mistakes - one that cost me money and another that turned out to save me money.
1)
C/o -1 raised to $6
This guy had been raising small a lot in position with marginal holdings like KJ - he then overvalued his hands on the flop and would call down when he should be folding. He also liked any 2 suited.
So my AQ is ahead of his range, i have position on him. I can call this, but I'd rather raise to get it heads up, so i raised to $20 in the c/o. Folded to him and he called.
Flop:
A 2 2 rainbow.
This is a pretty good flop for me, I know I'm a mile in front and the only action I'm getting here is from a weak ace. If he doesn't have an ace he folds to my c-bet, so i thought i'd throw in a bit of deception and check, and let him catch a bit.
Turn:
7
He checks and i bet 20, he min raises me to 40. Did i just let him catch 2 pair? I don't think so. I'm pretty sure I'm still ahead here, but i think my best bet is to call, as i have position and can see what he does on the river, and maybe get an extra bet, because i still haven't really told him I have an ace. If he has the 7, then as long as he doesn't have an ace with it he can't outdraw me unless he hits another 7 due to the two 2s being on the board.
I call, river is a brick.
He checks - here is my mistake. I've done this a few times. I'm not careful enough in calculating the size of my value bet; it was a value bet btw - i was sure i was ahead and that he would call with a worse holding.
Pot was now $120 - I bet $25 (horrible horrible bet). He called and mucked his hand. I think I should have bet $50 here.
Ok, next one i raise it up and get called by this player new to the table with $500 - he has the button.
Flop A K 3 with 2 hearts,
I fire 2/3 pot, he calls.
Turn Q - good card for me, although if he was in front of me on the flop he still is (unless he has A3 or K3 - but unlikely and even if he did he surely raises on the flop), but i didn't think he was. I know JT now beats me, but I didn't think he had that at this stage.
I decided to check, to let him try to outplay me. I thought he was the kind of guy who would play his position, but then he checked behind and
4h fell.
I checked and he fired $50, i folded pretty quickly.
After that hand he continued to call down bets on draws, so I'm pretty sure by playing the hand badly i minimised my losses - but you have to look at the long term and not the short term results.
Ok third time - i liked my play here, a little different from standard though.
C/o limped and i bumped it up to 15 with AQ on the button, the bb called and the c/o called.
Flop Qc 7c 7d
BB led for 18, c/o folded. At this point i could raise, i think i have the best hand here, but by calling i am throwing some decption into the mix, my hand is a lot stronger than a button raise would suggest.
I call
Turn 4d
He bets $28. I think and decide now that he has JQ/KQ - I could raise here, but decided that I'd get more value if i called and bet the river.
I call
River is a brick.
He checks to me looking at me - massive massive tell. "Please don't bet, i have a hand that could win at showdown."
I bet $40 and he calls, and shakes his head as i flip AQ and he mucks his hand.
Maybe i could have got more had i raised the turn, but i love representing the missed draw on the river.
Ok, today.... rollercoaster time!
I sat down at a table with loads of cash and the first 3 hands were re-raised preflop. Excellent, i like big pots, i can play my strong hands, and play position and look to get paid off.
After sitting there for a couple of hours I had got up to $400 from my initial $300 buy in.
Then this hand developed:
I'm in the sb, button limps for $3, i wake up with QQ. At this point i had raised 3 of the last 4 hands and hadn't shown down. So i figured if i bumped this up i would get no credit.
I made it $20.
The bb who had $700 back thought for 10 seconds and re-raised it to 50.
Ok.....
What am i representing with my raise?
I think they thought i could have had a wide wide range. Maybe even close to any 2 cards, as i had raised so much prior to that. Let's say he puts me on any pair, 89s+
That's a hell of a lot of hands, so let's now put him on a hand.
I think he re-raises me here with 88+ AJ+, maybe even worse? I'm the small blind and the button limped, i don't have to be strong here.
Ok, so my QQ is ahead of his range, and i don't want to be playing this pot out of position. I decided to re-raise and slid in another $100 meaning it was $70 more to him.
At this point he slumps back in his chair and looks like he had a real decision.
I'm sitting thinking "if he moves in here, can i call? I mean i have QQ, I'm in the sb v the bb, what have i represented so far. How has he been playing? What would he move in with here? Do i have an physical tells on him?"
He thinks for 15 seconds or so and announces all in.
Oh oh pinochio (copyright thehills1)
Right, now we've gone over what hands we're representing etc, but there's more to this than that. I have information on this guy from the past 2 hours.
Nugget 1:
20 mins after i sat down, tight UTG made it $15, there were 2 callers and this guy made it $45 on the button with TT.
Now this is by no means bad play, it could be a good play, he won the hand and showed his tens. But TT is probably a little behind a standard UTG raise, or it's not far enough in front. Sure he was raising to isolate after the limpers and to squeeze some of them out. Well i say sure, but i don't know. From this hand i got he is either a good player or he overvlaues hands.
Nugget 2:
Young guy sat down at the table and played very few hands, but played them aggressively. Everytime he showed down he had the goods and chipped up to $400.
Our villain made it $15 from early and got 2 callers including this young solid player in position.
Flop
Q T 5 rainbow.
Villain led for $25 and solid player raised to $75.
Villain then re-raised to $150 and solid player called.
Turn K.
Villain led for $100 and solid player raised all in for about $250, $150 more.
Villain INSTA called and flipped AQ triumphantly.
Solid player makes a sigh of relief and flips 55 for the flopped set - obviously.
Villain looks sick.
Ok... does this guy overvalue hands? HELL YES!
There was another hand where he overcalled on the river, and mucked when the orginal caller had 2nd pair. I don't know what he had, but it was a dreadful call as he didn't beat the original caller. When you overcall you have to be able to beat both the bettor and the caller, sure the bettor may be bluffing but the caller sure as hell isn't. So this threw further weight into him being a bad player.
Ok... decision time.
I had all of these nuggets of info in my head, coupled with the way the hand was played and the fact i had already throwin in $120, i was swaying towards calling. I genuinely didn't think he had AA. When he raised all in, i detected a little amount of genuine hesitation, so realistically the only hand i thought he could have that beat me was KK. I thought AK and JJ (and the other QQ) all fit his betting pattern.
Putting him on that range and having $120 in already i think i have to call.
I called for my final $280 after 15 seconds of thought.
He flips KK as the flop is dealt - whoops....
Flop JT3
Turn 5
Are you ready????
River Queeeeeeeeeeeeennnnnn!
I didn't really react other than to turn to him and shrug my shoulders and offer a facial expression that was supposed to read "Sorry bud, that's poker".
He turns to me and says "That was a terrible call".
I reply "Well on the face of it, it was a bad call but it worked out ok for me, but it was certainly not a terrible call."
The guy (who was in his mid thirties) responded, "it was a terrible terrible call, 300 bucks more on QQ"
Once again i replied "It wasn't a terrible call, i had my reasons."
"Don't try to justify it, terrible player." - Him
"Would you like me to write you a 500 word essay on why i made that call (could have handed him the link to this blog i guess!). I made the call for a reason." - Me
"Whatever, you play real bad" - Him
I should have stopped at this point, i had just bad beaten him for $400, but the guy was being a bit of a dick about it, i mean come on, if he thinks I'm a bad player and he's so much better, then he will crush those games, and if he's so pissed about losing one buy in, he shouldn't be playing. I didn't stop....
"You want to know why i made the call? Why i made the bad call? I have sat here for 2 hours with you and you have been making bad plays all day, you overvalue hands thats why i made the call. I got it wrong, i beat you, unlucky, but let's move on."
He didn't say a word. I realise that i may come across as a bit of a dick myself here, and with good reason; but i just wasn't taking it from this guy, and i only gave back what he gave me.
Anyway i now had $800 in front of me to donk off.
Ok...
I get 78c in utg+1
UTG tries to straddle but is too late. He has like $800 in front of him too. So he limps. This is a very weak holding in the position, but there hadn't been many preflop raises, so i decided to try and see a flop. Even if someone raises from late to say $15, the pot will be guaranteed to be juicy and multi way and I have a chance to catch a monster.
We see a flop:
Qd 5c 4c
Ok... not quite bingo, but i have a massive draw and plenty of chips to use to my advantage.
UTG leads for 20 - he has been playing very LAG and could have a wide variety of holdings here. There are 3 people left to act behind me, i have a big draw (gut shot straight flush draw) so i elect to raise.
This is the type of hand in a tournament that I quite simply wouldn't lay down. I would only lay it down if someone shoved on me, but i would choose my bets sizes carefully so i would be the one moving in with fold equity. However this is a cash game.....
I made it $50, and everyone folded to the UTG LAG. He was on the phone and flat called.
At this point i think it should be noted that he has called a lot of raises on the flop with very weak holdings looking to catch bigger on the turn. Ie he called with A4 on a 4 K J board earlier, checked the turn and caught trip 4s on the river.
Turn 7d
I now have a pair, but i can't be good. He checks to me.
One of the reasons for raising your draw in position is so that you can get a free river card. However, for the reasons noted above i decided that i was best to keep representing strength and fire in another bet to get him to fold.
I bet $100 and he thought for a second and called (still on the phone).
River was the Ks, so despite my draw on the flop, i now only have a pair of 7s.
He checks to me, there's just over $300 in the middle that i cannot win if i check. I HAVE to bet this to win the pot.
I slide in 2 $100 towers, and he sits back in his chair. After about 10 seconds he calls, i flip my pair of 7s and he turns over 45 for the flopped 2 pair, immediately hanging up on his friend and cheering.
I don't think i played the hand badly - I definitely could have played it differently, but i did everything in it for a reason. I bet the turn instead of taking a free card because i thought he might have a weak queen or a middle PP, and i put in a strong bet on the river, that i think was probably optimally sized, to try to steal it. Incidentally, i had 19 outs on the river after i turned the 7, i didn't know that at the time but i did.
9 clubs, 4 gut shot outs - 1 club, two 7s, three 8s and two Qs.
Ok, enough for now. Going to get some food, then will hit the tables again, followed by a club later.
Please, I'd like some feedback on specific hands, because i definitely have leaks in my play - and I'd like to hear some opinions.
Puggy.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Days 1-4
Day 1
I swaggered up to the MGM Poker Room expecting to sit down at the 1/2 NL game and have drunk tourists paying me off every hand i played. The last time i was in Vegas - more than a year ago now, I had stayed at the Flamingo Hotel and enjoyed a reasonable degree of success making about $1k in their 1/2 game over the course of 10 days or so, while getting pissed at the same time. 13 months on, my poker game has improved markedly, so surely my profits in these Vegas games should dramatically increase? (Cough Cough). Apparantly it doesn't work like that.....
First hand i got dealt was K4 in the bb, i won it against a button limper when a king flopped.
Second hand i got KK in the sb, after a few limpers to me, i bumped it up to 20 and i got 3 callers. Flop came 223, i led for 50 and the c/o thought and moved in. I insta called putting him on 99, he sighed and flipped JJ, and i scooped a $400 pot - i was right this was going to be easy..... or so i thought.
2 hours later i was sitting with that same $400 in front of me when i got dealt AA in mid position after 1 limper. I made it $20 - yes 10x the bb - I'm in Vegas and ppl like to gambooole. C/o calls and button calls. Button has $500 back and has called a lot of raises with all kinds of cards looking to outflop people and on some occasions try and outplay them. My image at this point is tight aggressive - the only hands i'd shown down had been strong ones and i had bet them hard. This guy had bet the river on 3 or 4 occasions, only to be called and grimace as they turned over the winning hand as he mucked his own. (Point to be noted, i hate it when ppl do this live - when i make a call on the river with a hand that is not the nuts, it is not slowrolling to wait for the bettor to show his hand, and i will almost always gesticulate for him to turn his cards, that info is priceless. Online all we have to do is click a button and we see all showdown hands - we can't do this live, and when we can ask it is considered very bad eitiquette. So any information is gold dust, especially against this type of player)
Ok... so flop:
Ks 6s 3d
There's $64 in the pot and i bet $40. (In hindsight i should be betting at least $50). C/o folds, button calls.
Turn:
5c
Ok, now at this point i thought he had called me with a piece of the board, because if he had flopped a big hand on the flop, i know he would have raised me, because I'm pretty sure he thinks I have a big hand at this point.
I decided to fire $100 and take the pot down.... he thought and called. Now, this is tricky and shows my inexperience both in cash games and in particular live cash games. My problems here are that I'm now playing a big pot with one pair. I have no idea what he has, and he has repeatably bluffed the river, so i don't know exactly how to play it on the river.
River Th
Ok, I have no idea if i have the best hand. The pot is now $340. I decided that if i bet here - say another $100 and he moved in, i would have to fold, and could perhaps be folding the best hand. I elected to check and see what he'd do.
He bet $100, i thought about it and called. This guy as i said had bluffed a lot of rivers. He flipped 74os for the turned straight.
He called $20 preflop with 74os, then $40 on the flop with a gutshot. Now if I'm going to criticise his play i have to look at mine. I'm hardly free from blame i built up a big pot with AA - ok he could have been drawing (he was on the flop), but it was certainly the first of my lessons. He claimed he thought if he hit he'd stack me. I asked him if i looked like an idiot - to which he didn't respond. Sad thing is, i probably did.
The same day i had 2 other $600+ pots.
J5s in the sb, i completed. Flop came JJQ i led, got 2 callers, turn 5, i led bigger got 2 callers, river 9 - i think jackpot as I know they're both "bad" enough to be calling down on a straight draw despite the board being paired. I led again, the first caller bumped it up another $100. I considered my options. I could have flat called using the theory that he can only call with a boat and if he has a boat it's bigger than mine, but decided a) he was bad enough to call with his straight and b) it was only like $80 more anyway. He calls and flips J5.... same hand, chop chop. $700 pot chopped with J5....
AKs in the sb, 3 limpers to me for $2, i make it $22 and get 2 callers - one loose player who called a $20 raise 20mins before with Q7s and flopped 2 pair (he has about $250 back), and a shorter guy who called in the c/o leaving back $60.
Flop Js Ts 3d.
I HAVE to bet this flop - i do not want it to be checked the the short stack for him to move in and me be sandwiched in between him and the loose guy when i have a big draw.
So i bet $40, loose guy calls, shorty folds. - oh oh. One problem with leading with draws out of position is that when you get called you are likley going to miss on the turn and have a tricky decision.
Turn was a brick.
I am pretty sure that if this guy flopped 2p or better he would have raised me on the flop, so i put him on a small piece. I could check here - in hindsight i wish i had, then if i check and he checks behind thats ok, if he bets i have a choice - if it's a big bet i could move in, if it's a small bet i could call, alternatively folding wouldn't be out of the question in some scenarios.
I elected to bet $100 - i was trying to tell him "look i've got a hand, save your money and fold, i'm not going anywhere".
He moved in for $126 more....... oh oh. Nightmare, absolute nightmare - so many ways to play this hand and now I'm stuck in a situation where I may have to call off $126 on a draw on the turn.... sick sick sick.
Ok, i thought for a minute or so, calculating pot odds his range etc.
$68 in the middle preflop + $80 on flop +$326 on turn = $548 in the middle and I need to call $126.... I'm getting better than 4/1 - i have 12 outs to the nuts, if i assume these are my only outs I'm a 3/1 dog roughly, i have to call, in addition to this i had a sneaky suspicion that my A and K could also be good (or one of them anyway). I sighed and pushed in my chips for him to say "Good call" and flip T7 for a pair of tens.
River Jc
No good for me and he scooped the pot, leaving me shaking my head in disbelief.
Did i misplay it? Possibly. Of course I cannot put him on T7 - but i did think he had a weak holding - perhaps i should have moved in on the turn - he cannot call, cannot. If I'm calling his all in anyway - then surely i should move in to stop him from doing precisely what he did. If i move all in and he has 33 for a flopped set he insta calls, if i bet 100 and he moves in for 226 i call - same result. I suppose if he calls my $100 on the turn i can check fold the river - that's the only difference, but i don't see him calling $100 on the turn too many times leaving back just $126 when the pot is that large.
If i check to him on the turn, does he bet? I'm pretty sure i'd have moved in on the turn had he bet $50-70, he can't call.
Anyway, lesson learned - when playing online, you always know how many chips your opponent has and can calculate bet sizes accordingly. It is important when playing live that you are constantly aware of how many chips your opponents have so as to choose the optimal bet size.
Day 2
The previous days complacency had faded and had been replaced with a slight feeling of inadequacy - which is a little ridiculous as despite me having major leaks in my live cash game play i still have a big edge over most in these games.
I started off very well, chipping up in small pots and avoiding the big ones of the day before when i held marginal holdings. I moved in twice on a draw with a lot of dead money locked in the pot and both times i won the hand without a showdown, then a similar situation arose when i had $300 in front of me:
I raised AhKd to $12 utg and got 3 callers (2 in position of me and the bb).
Flop 2h 4h 5h
Ok... this is obviously not a bad flop for me, i haven't got anything yet, but I'm in great shape against 88 or 99 - hands that my opponents may have. Against these holding i could have as many as 17 outs with my overcards, flush draw and gut shot draw.
A glance around the table saw that the 2 players still to act after me had less chips than I, and i didn't fancy having to call an all in if i made my c-bet, so i elected to check and see what they did. The c/o bet 30 into the pot, button folded, bb folded.
Theres $79 in the pot, c/o has $80 back - I'm not folding this, I'm obviously putting him in. If he folds, fine ship the 79 bucks. If he calls I may be in great shape. As i said if he calls with an overpair to the board I'm about a 60% favourite. Even if he has a set I'm 40% ish. Only thing i'm really concerned about is that if he's flopped it - then i only have 7 outs, but i can't be afraid of that.
ALL IN!
He insta calls flipping Q8h
Turn 9h
UL buddy, but thats why you don't play suited trash :S.
Ok so after that horrible suck out i put on him (ahem) I have a healthy stack. An hour or so later these 2 guys came down from 2/5 to have some fun and drink. Both of these guys knew how to play, and were very aggro and didn't mind if they lost a buy in. I want these guys at my table - sure they can be tough to play against, but they will throw money around with marginal holdings and i don't mind calling off chips if i think i have an edge.
I get dealt AK in the sb - one of them raises from mid position. I elected to call - i could have re-raised, but i think he calls with a lot of hands and if he hits the flop he goes with it. i thought if i call and hit i can get paid. His mate in the bb calls.
Flop Ac Ts 9s i led for 25 and they both called.
Turn Ad and i led for 60, bb called - river was a spade.....
I put in a $50 block bet he insta min raised to 100 and i open folded, he showed J9s and said even if i had shoved the turn he would have called.
If i re-raise preflop I win the hand - but the way the hand played out, the vast majority of the time i win a nice pot. If the river had been a spade and paired the board or my king i'd have shoved and I'm pretty sure he calls. Oh well.
Day 3
This is one of my favourite hands of my trip so far - on paper it looks pretty standard, but i played it very well and my thought processes were very clear.
I have $400 in front of me. To my immediate right i have a 21/22 year old who has been chatting to me about poker (Matt), about how bad some of the guys are and just generally being friendly, he has $200. On the other side of the table was sat a fat loud American (i know, big shock - let's call him Chuck). This guy had been playing wrecklessly, had just lost a big pot, had just lost $1k on a basketball game and was obviously itching to gamble.
My friend Matt limps in early for $2, i look down at AA and make it $15. SB calls and Chuck calls in the bb. Matt then announces raise..... wow....
Matt chucks in another 4 red ones on top of my raise "$20 more sir" the dealer says.
Ok this could be gold, absolute gold. How can I get Matt to put his chips in the middle here with JJ/QQ - i don't think he folds KK - how many ppl can at a 1/2 game? I look at the other 2 in the hand, i see the sb is holding 4 red chips. (Don't do this, observant players pick up on these things and adjust their play). I look at the bb and i can tell he is ready to move all in - he can't fold, that would bruise his ego and he's ready to gamboooole anyway.
I have to work out if I flat call, and the sb flat calls, if the bb's inevitable push will be big enough for it to be classed as a raise. Matt has raised it 20 more, which means that the bb needs to have at least another 40 chips back in order for it to be a real raise. I quickly counted his chips, trying as hard as possible not to let anyone see what I was doing. He had 33 more - damn damn damn. If he had 40 chips - thats 7 more chips I would have flat called Matt's raise with AA, the sb would have called, Chuck would have pushed and Matt would have been in Pain-ville. What does Matt do in this spot? Assuming he has JJ-KK - i think he re-raises. How much? Well it could be all in, if not he's throwing in another $50 at least.
This is obviously now hypothetical as Chuck's all in won't be counted as a full raise, so as i didn't want to play a 4 way pot with AA i re-raised $80 more on top of Matt's raise. SB folded, Chuck moved in with his routine bad chat, followed by standing up, clapping his hands and yelling something in "American" to the dealer. Matt sat back in his chair expressing how "sick" it was. Mumbling that it's a massive laydown he eventually open folded QQ.
Chuck has T8 and despite 97 flopping my AA held to scoop the pot.
I had a good laugh about this hand - my observation skills in it were markedly up from the previous day, and had Chuck only had 7 less Bud Lights I'd have trapped Matt for another $50-200 and locked in another $20 in dead money from the sb. Oh well....
Later that night we visited the Excalibur as it is notoriously soft. Within the first 5 hands i had doubled having flopped a set and turned a boat. I got paid off on the river by a gambler with 3 of a kind, despite there being a flush and a straight out there. I managed to sit there and bleed chips for the rest of the evening - partly due to bad luck, but more probably due to 10 odd bottles of Corona, followed by a fair amount of Rum and cokes. I say they were Rum and cokes, but there wasn't much coke! It got to the stage at one point where we decided the cocktail waitress was being too slow so started asking the guys around us who weren't drinking to order for us so we always had one in hand. (Drinks are free when gambling, just $1 for the waitress).
Last hand i played was at 6am and at the time i thought was a bit of a cooler, but is there really such a thing as a cooler? I think so, but i also think we include many more hands in that category that really aren't and i think this may be one....
3 limpers for $3 before me, and i look down at KJ - i should be raising this i think - these guys are limping with so much crap, but calling is ok, im in position and I can play flops.... well sometimes.
Flop Ad Qd Td
and you've guessed it I've got the Kd.
There's 5 of is in the hand. My mate leads at it from the sb (he told me later he had QT and suggested that it was a -ev bet that he should have been check folding - I'm not so sure). A guy in mid position that has been playing loose, and has misplayed a few hands in the previous hour min raises to 30. I have 200 back and re-raise to 80 - hell I've flopped broadway and have the nut flush draw. My mate folds and this guy calls - he has me outchipped.
Is my straight worth anything now? Does he have the made flush? Surely if he has the made flush he moves in as i know he doesn't have the nut flush as i have the Kd. Turn is a brick and he checks to me. I move in for my last $120 and he calls flipping J8d for the flopped flush, i miss on the river, stand up, sigh, say nice hand and mumble something about a cooler. Is it? What can he possibly call me with on the flop when i re-re-raise? Sure if he moves in on me there i call, but after he calls then checks to me on the turn, i can surely just check the turn? I mean I'm not going to be outdrawn on the river, if he has 2 pair I'm dodging 4 outs. Also he can only call me on the turn if he has the flush, so why don't i at least check here and get it in on the river? Or even if he checks to me on the river again, i can check behind if i please.
It's a tough one, but I think it's important to analyse these "coolers" because often there will be a moment when you misplayed the hand, and if you continue to believe that you are being unlucky you will not improve. And i have a lot of improving to do in these games.
Day 4
We returned to the Excalibur the next day having slept til 1pm. Once again the table was very soft, but ppl were calling raises with crap and in multiway pots it is difficult to know when you're good.
Having sat there for a good 2 hours this hand came up - another interesting one i think.
3 limpers to me and i look down at A4os on the button. I obviously don't like playing hands like this, but there are a couple of real fish in the hand who i can read like a book so I'm quite happy to play any hand against them.
Flop 3h 5h 6d
Ok, i've flopped an open ender, but there are 2 problems with this.
1) I'm only using one of my hole cards - someone could catch a higher straight, or i could be playing to split.
2) It's a suited board, with a few guys in, chances are I'm drawing to 6 outs instead of 8 and then they will have a redraw on the river.
BB (fish number 1, lets call him Wanda) leads for $6, UTG calls (he's fish 2, let's call him Trout - yeah i struggled there), c/o calls.
It's $6 to call - i have a draw. Sure it's not a great one for the reasons above, but i think it's ok to call here and see what the turn brings.
Turn:
2d
Ok, I've now hit my draw, I have the second nuts.
Wanda bets $30 leaving back $200, Trout calls $30 leaving back $30. C/o folds.
Ok... what are my options? All in? Call? I sat there for 30 seconds or so contemplating my options and then slid my cards into the muck. As fishy as Trout was, he had to have the 4 there (him limping utg had no bearing on his holding). He could even have 47. In addition to this, the bb surely has a 4 as well - he bet $6 on the flop then ups it to $30 on the turn when the obvious draw hits. I was pretty sure that they both had 4s, and even if only one of them did, then the other isn't going to put anymore money in, so I would have split what was in the pot about $70 with the other guy - but i think I would have had to put my stack in the middle in order to split it. In addition to this, i also thought it was very feasable that one of them, if not both also had a draw on top of their made straight. For example x4h or x4d .
I don't think i need to tell the rest of the hand in order to justify my play, but i will:
River 7c
Money goes in, Wanda flips A4 and Trout flips 84 for the rivered higher straight. I announce to the table that i folded A4 (yeah i know i don't need to be doing this, but I'm often a cocky git). Wanda and Trout didn't believe me obviously, because why would i ever fold the second nuts in a pot with only one bet? But i had actually flashed my cards to my neighbour as i folded so he could confirm (again - cocky cocky play. Why am i showing them how i play? It's not for any poker reason, purely so i can boast in the short term about how great I am (despite me having lost over a buy-in in the previous 2 hours) - completely -ev and something i have to stop when playing live. I NEVER show my cards online, why should live be any different?)
An hour later I raised up JJ to 13 and got 4 callers, flop 2c 2d 3c, i checked planning on check raising one of the remaining 3 players, one guy bet 25, another made it 100.... oh oh.
I thought for a good minute before throwing JJ in the muck, not knowing if i was correct. I thought the 2nd bettor could have TT, but it was the only hand i thought he could have that I beat. I know that could sound a little silly, but at this table there was a big big chance he had a 2 in his hand.
The first bettor called for his remainding $80 and flipped AQc, re-raiser had TT.
Club hit on river and at the time i was pleased - but that's quite simply ridiculous. The outcome of the hand has no bearing on how i played it. i think i played it ok - if i was going to do anything on the flop, it would have had to be all in, and i don't think TT can call, so in hindsight I should have shoved and isolated AQc. But of course that's knowing that the guy had TT, but considering he definitely could have had a 2, the fold was ok.
In the evening we headed down the strip to Caesar's. We're going to be staying there next week so thought we'd check out their tourny at 11pm.
Considering we're both tourny players it's strange that this being our 4th day in Vegas this would be our first tournament of our trip. Tourny was a $70 freezeout and was predictably a crap shoot. I went out after an hour, but my friend made it to the final table and did a ridiculous 9-way equal chop despite the chip leader having the short stack outchipped by 10/1. My mate was the only one who wanted to play on and in his words he "didn't want to force the issue". An interesting thing to note was how we both laughed about how "bad" the players in the tournament were - they were making so many mistake, generally limping when they should have been raising or folding, and later in the tourny limp folding when they should have been open shoving. These are the same players that we have been struggling to and in most cases failing to beat in cash games - hmm i wonder what that tells me?
Anyway after i donked out of the tourny i joined the waiting list for 1/3 NL. After 10minutes i got seated at a new table, with all of us buying in for at least $200 ($100 min $500 max). This was a great table - as much as it is good to be playing with bad players it can be better at times to play with mediocre players because they are far easier to read and you can expect less swings. At this table few ppl were limping in out of psiiton preflop, and when they did they were folding to decent raises, that is apart from one guy.
This hand came up after 30mins:
Guy limps in 2nd pos, 3rd pos makes it 15. I wake up with AA and consider smooth calling but see the inexperienced player to my left is also ready to call and i figure that the early limper will doubtlessly call as well. The raiser only has $90 or so back, so i want him to stay in and give me the rest of his stack.
I decided that it was ok to raise to $30 - only just over the min raise, but it would mean that anyone entering the pot after me would have to put in 10 bbs in order to play (9 to bb and early limper). To my semi-surprise, early limper called and raiser called.
3 to the flop with $94 in the middle.
J Q 3 rainbow, limper bets $75, raiser calls off his last $70 odd. I sit for 10 seconds and open folded AA, pretty confident that limper had JQ - i even thought that the shover could have JJ, but i wouldn't have folded to him had it just been the 2 of us. (I realise I have just assigned them all the jacks, which is very unlikely. I guess what i mean is that i thought the limper had JQ, and if he didn't i thought the shover could have JJ, anyway i was sure i was beat).
Limper had JQos (yeah $30 out of position preflop) and shover had AQ.
Over the course of the next 2 hours i chipped up to $400 without a showdown, in what was definitely my favourite session so far.
My mate remarked after that of course it was my favourite session if no one played back at me and i made money etc etc. But i genuinely think that even in the last 4 days that my live cash game skills have increased immeasurably, but i also have a long way to go, i still have major leaks that need to be fixed. Hopefully i can transfer these new skills to the live tournament scene soon....
Off to Santa Barbara for a break tomorrow, should be fun. Back in Vegas on Sunday, time away should do me good - it can be like exercise, u need some downtime in order to see an improvement.
Puggy82
I swaggered up to the MGM Poker Room expecting to sit down at the 1/2 NL game and have drunk tourists paying me off every hand i played. The last time i was in Vegas - more than a year ago now, I had stayed at the Flamingo Hotel and enjoyed a reasonable degree of success making about $1k in their 1/2 game over the course of 10 days or so, while getting pissed at the same time. 13 months on, my poker game has improved markedly, so surely my profits in these Vegas games should dramatically increase? (Cough Cough). Apparantly it doesn't work like that.....
First hand i got dealt was K4 in the bb, i won it against a button limper when a king flopped.
Second hand i got KK in the sb, after a few limpers to me, i bumped it up to 20 and i got 3 callers. Flop came 223, i led for 50 and the c/o thought and moved in. I insta called putting him on 99, he sighed and flipped JJ, and i scooped a $400 pot - i was right this was going to be easy..... or so i thought.
2 hours later i was sitting with that same $400 in front of me when i got dealt AA in mid position after 1 limper. I made it $20 - yes 10x the bb - I'm in Vegas and ppl like to gambooole. C/o calls and button calls. Button has $500 back and has called a lot of raises with all kinds of cards looking to outflop people and on some occasions try and outplay them. My image at this point is tight aggressive - the only hands i'd shown down had been strong ones and i had bet them hard. This guy had bet the river on 3 or 4 occasions, only to be called and grimace as they turned over the winning hand as he mucked his own. (Point to be noted, i hate it when ppl do this live - when i make a call on the river with a hand that is not the nuts, it is not slowrolling to wait for the bettor to show his hand, and i will almost always gesticulate for him to turn his cards, that info is priceless. Online all we have to do is click a button and we see all showdown hands - we can't do this live, and when we can ask it is considered very bad eitiquette. So any information is gold dust, especially against this type of player)
Ok... so flop:
Ks 6s 3d
There's $64 in the pot and i bet $40. (In hindsight i should be betting at least $50). C/o folds, button calls.
Turn:
5c
Ok, now at this point i thought he had called me with a piece of the board, because if he had flopped a big hand on the flop, i know he would have raised me, because I'm pretty sure he thinks I have a big hand at this point.
I decided to fire $100 and take the pot down.... he thought and called. Now, this is tricky and shows my inexperience both in cash games and in particular live cash games. My problems here are that I'm now playing a big pot with one pair. I have no idea what he has, and he has repeatably bluffed the river, so i don't know exactly how to play it on the river.
River Th
Ok, I have no idea if i have the best hand. The pot is now $340. I decided that if i bet here - say another $100 and he moved in, i would have to fold, and could perhaps be folding the best hand. I elected to check and see what he'd do.
He bet $100, i thought about it and called. This guy as i said had bluffed a lot of rivers. He flipped 74os for the turned straight.
He called $20 preflop with 74os, then $40 on the flop with a gutshot. Now if I'm going to criticise his play i have to look at mine. I'm hardly free from blame i built up a big pot with AA - ok he could have been drawing (he was on the flop), but it was certainly the first of my lessons. He claimed he thought if he hit he'd stack me. I asked him if i looked like an idiot - to which he didn't respond. Sad thing is, i probably did.
The same day i had 2 other $600+ pots.
J5s in the sb, i completed. Flop came JJQ i led, got 2 callers, turn 5, i led bigger got 2 callers, river 9 - i think jackpot as I know they're both "bad" enough to be calling down on a straight draw despite the board being paired. I led again, the first caller bumped it up another $100. I considered my options. I could have flat called using the theory that he can only call with a boat and if he has a boat it's bigger than mine, but decided a) he was bad enough to call with his straight and b) it was only like $80 more anyway. He calls and flips J5.... same hand, chop chop. $700 pot chopped with J5....
AKs in the sb, 3 limpers to me for $2, i make it $22 and get 2 callers - one loose player who called a $20 raise 20mins before with Q7s and flopped 2 pair (he has about $250 back), and a shorter guy who called in the c/o leaving back $60.
Flop Js Ts 3d.
I HAVE to bet this flop - i do not want it to be checked the the short stack for him to move in and me be sandwiched in between him and the loose guy when i have a big draw.
So i bet $40, loose guy calls, shorty folds. - oh oh. One problem with leading with draws out of position is that when you get called you are likley going to miss on the turn and have a tricky decision.
Turn was a brick.
I am pretty sure that if this guy flopped 2p or better he would have raised me on the flop, so i put him on a small piece. I could check here - in hindsight i wish i had, then if i check and he checks behind thats ok, if he bets i have a choice - if it's a big bet i could move in, if it's a small bet i could call, alternatively folding wouldn't be out of the question in some scenarios.
I elected to bet $100 - i was trying to tell him "look i've got a hand, save your money and fold, i'm not going anywhere".
He moved in for $126 more....... oh oh. Nightmare, absolute nightmare - so many ways to play this hand and now I'm stuck in a situation where I may have to call off $126 on a draw on the turn.... sick sick sick.
Ok, i thought for a minute or so, calculating pot odds his range etc.
$68 in the middle preflop + $80 on flop +$326 on turn = $548 in the middle and I need to call $126.... I'm getting better than 4/1 - i have 12 outs to the nuts, if i assume these are my only outs I'm a 3/1 dog roughly, i have to call, in addition to this i had a sneaky suspicion that my A and K could also be good (or one of them anyway). I sighed and pushed in my chips for him to say "Good call" and flip T7 for a pair of tens.
River Jc
No good for me and he scooped the pot, leaving me shaking my head in disbelief.
Did i misplay it? Possibly. Of course I cannot put him on T7 - but i did think he had a weak holding - perhaps i should have moved in on the turn - he cannot call, cannot. If I'm calling his all in anyway - then surely i should move in to stop him from doing precisely what he did. If i move all in and he has 33 for a flopped set he insta calls, if i bet 100 and he moves in for 226 i call - same result. I suppose if he calls my $100 on the turn i can check fold the river - that's the only difference, but i don't see him calling $100 on the turn too many times leaving back just $126 when the pot is that large.
If i check to him on the turn, does he bet? I'm pretty sure i'd have moved in on the turn had he bet $50-70, he can't call.
Anyway, lesson learned - when playing online, you always know how many chips your opponent has and can calculate bet sizes accordingly. It is important when playing live that you are constantly aware of how many chips your opponents have so as to choose the optimal bet size.
Day 2
The previous days complacency had faded and had been replaced with a slight feeling of inadequacy - which is a little ridiculous as despite me having major leaks in my live cash game play i still have a big edge over most in these games.
I started off very well, chipping up in small pots and avoiding the big ones of the day before when i held marginal holdings. I moved in twice on a draw with a lot of dead money locked in the pot and both times i won the hand without a showdown, then a similar situation arose when i had $300 in front of me:
I raised AhKd to $12 utg and got 3 callers (2 in position of me and the bb).
Flop 2h 4h 5h
Ok... this is obviously not a bad flop for me, i haven't got anything yet, but I'm in great shape against 88 or 99 - hands that my opponents may have. Against these holding i could have as many as 17 outs with my overcards, flush draw and gut shot draw.
A glance around the table saw that the 2 players still to act after me had less chips than I, and i didn't fancy having to call an all in if i made my c-bet, so i elected to check and see what they did. The c/o bet 30 into the pot, button folded, bb folded.
Theres $79 in the pot, c/o has $80 back - I'm not folding this, I'm obviously putting him in. If he folds, fine ship the 79 bucks. If he calls I may be in great shape. As i said if he calls with an overpair to the board I'm about a 60% favourite. Even if he has a set I'm 40% ish. Only thing i'm really concerned about is that if he's flopped it - then i only have 7 outs, but i can't be afraid of that.
ALL IN!
He insta calls flipping Q8h
Turn 9h
UL buddy, but thats why you don't play suited trash :S.
Ok so after that horrible suck out i put on him (ahem) I have a healthy stack. An hour or so later these 2 guys came down from 2/5 to have some fun and drink. Both of these guys knew how to play, and were very aggro and didn't mind if they lost a buy in. I want these guys at my table - sure they can be tough to play against, but they will throw money around with marginal holdings and i don't mind calling off chips if i think i have an edge.
I get dealt AK in the sb - one of them raises from mid position. I elected to call - i could have re-raised, but i think he calls with a lot of hands and if he hits the flop he goes with it. i thought if i call and hit i can get paid. His mate in the bb calls.
Flop Ac Ts 9s i led for 25 and they both called.
Turn Ad and i led for 60, bb called - river was a spade.....
I put in a $50 block bet he insta min raised to 100 and i open folded, he showed J9s and said even if i had shoved the turn he would have called.
If i re-raise preflop I win the hand - but the way the hand played out, the vast majority of the time i win a nice pot. If the river had been a spade and paired the board or my king i'd have shoved and I'm pretty sure he calls. Oh well.
Day 3
This is one of my favourite hands of my trip so far - on paper it looks pretty standard, but i played it very well and my thought processes were very clear.
I have $400 in front of me. To my immediate right i have a 21/22 year old who has been chatting to me about poker (Matt), about how bad some of the guys are and just generally being friendly, he has $200. On the other side of the table was sat a fat loud American (i know, big shock - let's call him Chuck). This guy had been playing wrecklessly, had just lost a big pot, had just lost $1k on a basketball game and was obviously itching to gamble.
My friend Matt limps in early for $2, i look down at AA and make it $15. SB calls and Chuck calls in the bb. Matt then announces raise..... wow....
Matt chucks in another 4 red ones on top of my raise "$20 more sir" the dealer says.
Ok this could be gold, absolute gold. How can I get Matt to put his chips in the middle here with JJ/QQ - i don't think he folds KK - how many ppl can at a 1/2 game? I look at the other 2 in the hand, i see the sb is holding 4 red chips. (Don't do this, observant players pick up on these things and adjust their play). I look at the bb and i can tell he is ready to move all in - he can't fold, that would bruise his ego and he's ready to gamboooole anyway.
I have to work out if I flat call, and the sb flat calls, if the bb's inevitable push will be big enough for it to be classed as a raise. Matt has raised it 20 more, which means that the bb needs to have at least another 40 chips back in order for it to be a real raise. I quickly counted his chips, trying as hard as possible not to let anyone see what I was doing. He had 33 more - damn damn damn. If he had 40 chips - thats 7 more chips I would have flat called Matt's raise with AA, the sb would have called, Chuck would have pushed and Matt would have been in Pain-ville. What does Matt do in this spot? Assuming he has JJ-KK - i think he re-raises. How much? Well it could be all in, if not he's throwing in another $50 at least.
This is obviously now hypothetical as Chuck's all in won't be counted as a full raise, so as i didn't want to play a 4 way pot with AA i re-raised $80 more on top of Matt's raise. SB folded, Chuck moved in with his routine bad chat, followed by standing up, clapping his hands and yelling something in "American" to the dealer. Matt sat back in his chair expressing how "sick" it was. Mumbling that it's a massive laydown he eventually open folded QQ.
Chuck has T8 and despite 97 flopping my AA held to scoop the pot.
I had a good laugh about this hand - my observation skills in it were markedly up from the previous day, and had Chuck only had 7 less Bud Lights I'd have trapped Matt for another $50-200 and locked in another $20 in dead money from the sb. Oh well....
Later that night we visited the Excalibur as it is notoriously soft. Within the first 5 hands i had doubled having flopped a set and turned a boat. I got paid off on the river by a gambler with 3 of a kind, despite there being a flush and a straight out there. I managed to sit there and bleed chips for the rest of the evening - partly due to bad luck, but more probably due to 10 odd bottles of Corona, followed by a fair amount of Rum and cokes. I say they were Rum and cokes, but there wasn't much coke! It got to the stage at one point where we decided the cocktail waitress was being too slow so started asking the guys around us who weren't drinking to order for us so we always had one in hand. (Drinks are free when gambling, just $1 for the waitress).
Last hand i played was at 6am and at the time i thought was a bit of a cooler, but is there really such a thing as a cooler? I think so, but i also think we include many more hands in that category that really aren't and i think this may be one....
3 limpers for $3 before me, and i look down at KJ - i should be raising this i think - these guys are limping with so much crap, but calling is ok, im in position and I can play flops.... well sometimes.
Flop Ad Qd Td
and you've guessed it I've got the Kd.
There's 5 of is in the hand. My mate leads at it from the sb (he told me later he had QT and suggested that it was a -ev bet that he should have been check folding - I'm not so sure). A guy in mid position that has been playing loose, and has misplayed a few hands in the previous hour min raises to 30. I have 200 back and re-raise to 80 - hell I've flopped broadway and have the nut flush draw. My mate folds and this guy calls - he has me outchipped.
Is my straight worth anything now? Does he have the made flush? Surely if he has the made flush he moves in as i know he doesn't have the nut flush as i have the Kd. Turn is a brick and he checks to me. I move in for my last $120 and he calls flipping J8d for the flopped flush, i miss on the river, stand up, sigh, say nice hand and mumble something about a cooler. Is it? What can he possibly call me with on the flop when i re-re-raise? Sure if he moves in on me there i call, but after he calls then checks to me on the turn, i can surely just check the turn? I mean I'm not going to be outdrawn on the river, if he has 2 pair I'm dodging 4 outs. Also he can only call me on the turn if he has the flush, so why don't i at least check here and get it in on the river? Or even if he checks to me on the river again, i can check behind if i please.
It's a tough one, but I think it's important to analyse these "coolers" because often there will be a moment when you misplayed the hand, and if you continue to believe that you are being unlucky you will not improve. And i have a lot of improving to do in these games.
Day 4
We returned to the Excalibur the next day having slept til 1pm. Once again the table was very soft, but ppl were calling raises with crap and in multiway pots it is difficult to know when you're good.
Having sat there for a good 2 hours this hand came up - another interesting one i think.
3 limpers to me and i look down at A4os on the button. I obviously don't like playing hands like this, but there are a couple of real fish in the hand who i can read like a book so I'm quite happy to play any hand against them.
Flop 3h 5h 6d
Ok, i've flopped an open ender, but there are 2 problems with this.
1) I'm only using one of my hole cards - someone could catch a higher straight, or i could be playing to split.
2) It's a suited board, with a few guys in, chances are I'm drawing to 6 outs instead of 8 and then they will have a redraw on the river.
BB (fish number 1, lets call him Wanda) leads for $6, UTG calls (he's fish 2, let's call him Trout - yeah i struggled there), c/o calls.
It's $6 to call - i have a draw. Sure it's not a great one for the reasons above, but i think it's ok to call here and see what the turn brings.
Turn:
2d
Ok, I've now hit my draw, I have the second nuts.
Wanda bets $30 leaving back $200, Trout calls $30 leaving back $30. C/o folds.
Ok... what are my options? All in? Call? I sat there for 30 seconds or so contemplating my options and then slid my cards into the muck. As fishy as Trout was, he had to have the 4 there (him limping utg had no bearing on his holding). He could even have 47. In addition to this, the bb surely has a 4 as well - he bet $6 on the flop then ups it to $30 on the turn when the obvious draw hits. I was pretty sure that they both had 4s, and even if only one of them did, then the other isn't going to put anymore money in, so I would have split what was in the pot about $70 with the other guy - but i think I would have had to put my stack in the middle in order to split it. In addition to this, i also thought it was very feasable that one of them, if not both also had a draw on top of their made straight. For example x4h or x4d .
I don't think i need to tell the rest of the hand in order to justify my play, but i will:
River 7c
Money goes in, Wanda flips A4 and Trout flips 84 for the rivered higher straight. I announce to the table that i folded A4 (yeah i know i don't need to be doing this, but I'm often a cocky git). Wanda and Trout didn't believe me obviously, because why would i ever fold the second nuts in a pot with only one bet? But i had actually flashed my cards to my neighbour as i folded so he could confirm (again - cocky cocky play. Why am i showing them how i play? It's not for any poker reason, purely so i can boast in the short term about how great I am (despite me having lost over a buy-in in the previous 2 hours) - completely -ev and something i have to stop when playing live. I NEVER show my cards online, why should live be any different?)
An hour later I raised up JJ to 13 and got 4 callers, flop 2c 2d 3c, i checked planning on check raising one of the remaining 3 players, one guy bet 25, another made it 100.... oh oh.
I thought for a good minute before throwing JJ in the muck, not knowing if i was correct. I thought the 2nd bettor could have TT, but it was the only hand i thought he could have that I beat. I know that could sound a little silly, but at this table there was a big big chance he had a 2 in his hand.
The first bettor called for his remainding $80 and flipped AQc, re-raiser had TT.
Club hit on river and at the time i was pleased - but that's quite simply ridiculous. The outcome of the hand has no bearing on how i played it. i think i played it ok - if i was going to do anything on the flop, it would have had to be all in, and i don't think TT can call, so in hindsight I should have shoved and isolated AQc. But of course that's knowing that the guy had TT, but considering he definitely could have had a 2, the fold was ok.
In the evening we headed down the strip to Caesar's. We're going to be staying there next week so thought we'd check out their tourny at 11pm.
Considering we're both tourny players it's strange that this being our 4th day in Vegas this would be our first tournament of our trip. Tourny was a $70 freezeout and was predictably a crap shoot. I went out after an hour, but my friend made it to the final table and did a ridiculous 9-way equal chop despite the chip leader having the short stack outchipped by 10/1. My mate was the only one who wanted to play on and in his words he "didn't want to force the issue". An interesting thing to note was how we both laughed about how "bad" the players in the tournament were - they were making so many mistake, generally limping when they should have been raising or folding, and later in the tourny limp folding when they should have been open shoving. These are the same players that we have been struggling to and in most cases failing to beat in cash games - hmm i wonder what that tells me?
Anyway after i donked out of the tourny i joined the waiting list for 1/3 NL. After 10minutes i got seated at a new table, with all of us buying in for at least $200 ($100 min $500 max). This was a great table - as much as it is good to be playing with bad players it can be better at times to play with mediocre players because they are far easier to read and you can expect less swings. At this table few ppl were limping in out of psiiton preflop, and when they did they were folding to decent raises, that is apart from one guy.
This hand came up after 30mins:
Guy limps in 2nd pos, 3rd pos makes it 15. I wake up with AA and consider smooth calling but see the inexperienced player to my left is also ready to call and i figure that the early limper will doubtlessly call as well. The raiser only has $90 or so back, so i want him to stay in and give me the rest of his stack.
I decided that it was ok to raise to $30 - only just over the min raise, but it would mean that anyone entering the pot after me would have to put in 10 bbs in order to play (9 to bb and early limper). To my semi-surprise, early limper called and raiser called.
3 to the flop with $94 in the middle.
J Q 3 rainbow, limper bets $75, raiser calls off his last $70 odd. I sit for 10 seconds and open folded AA, pretty confident that limper had JQ - i even thought that the shover could have JJ, but i wouldn't have folded to him had it just been the 2 of us. (I realise I have just assigned them all the jacks, which is very unlikely. I guess what i mean is that i thought the limper had JQ, and if he didn't i thought the shover could have JJ, anyway i was sure i was beat).
Limper had JQos (yeah $30 out of position preflop) and shover had AQ.
Over the course of the next 2 hours i chipped up to $400 without a showdown, in what was definitely my favourite session so far.
My mate remarked after that of course it was my favourite session if no one played back at me and i made money etc etc. But i genuinely think that even in the last 4 days that my live cash game skills have increased immeasurably, but i also have a long way to go, i still have major leaks that need to be fixed. Hopefully i can transfer these new skills to the live tournament scene soon....
Off to Santa Barbara for a break tomorrow, should be fun. Back in Vegas on Sunday, time away should do me good - it can be like exercise, u need some downtime in order to see an improvement.
Puggy82
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)